FILM REVIEW; A Nerdy Orphan Plows Ahead With a Lot of Familiar Novelties

By A.O. SCOTT

Published: March 30, 2007

At the end of ''Meet the Robinsons,'' a new 3-D computer-animated Disney film (loosely based on a popular children's book by William Joyce), the screen is filled with an inspiring quotation from Walt Disney himself. The gist of
it is that ''around here'' -- meaning at Disney's entertainment workshop -- not a lot of time is spent looking backward. Instead, the motto is, as it is for some of the characters in the
film, ''Keep moving forward.''

In other words, learn from your mistakes. And it seems appropriate that this great man's words appear at the end of this movie, since they implicitly invite you to forget what you have just seen and may even serve as a sort of apology. Whether or
not it counts as a mistake -- movies tend to be made on purpose -- ''Meet the Robinsons'' is surely one of the worst theatrically released animated features issued under the Disney label in quite
some time.

Lewis, the bespectacled orphan who is this film's hero, is a budding inventor whose obsessive nerdiness turns off potential adoptive parents. One of his less successful creations is a peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich machine that sprays brown and
purple goo in every direction except onto the waiting bread. And so it is with ''Meet the Robinsons.'' With increasing desperation, the filmmakers (Stephen Anderson directed and shares screenwriting
credit with a half-dozen other writers) and their Disney and Pixar supervisors hurl fun at the screen, digging deep into their bag of used novelties.

Lonely orphans? Hey, this is Disney; they practically invented lonely orphans. If you like time travel, they have that too. Lessons for the children: take your pick. Warm fuzzies for the grown-ups? That's what lonely orphans are for. But if that's
not enough, the movie also has singing frogs -- hey, it's not like Warner Brothers owns that idea or anything -- a lovable T-Rex and a bowler hat with claws. And a kid from the future with Jimmy Neutron's
hair! And an amusing talking robot like the ones in ''Robots''! And a crazy extended family like the ones in lots of other movies! And Tom Selleck! And Rufus Wainwright (singing on the soundtrack).
Rufus Wainwright? But did I mention the bowler hats? They're plotting to take over the world.

Curiously, this last plot point yields the only visually interesting section of the movie, a brief sequence in which the much-ballyhooed 3-D technology is yoked to a dystopian architectural vision that recalls Japanese anime. Otherwise, the effects seem
as haphazard and tacked-on as the plotlines. The present-day world where Lewis starts out looks as drab and generic as a studio back lot set, and the landscape of the future is lifeless and badly scaled. ''The
Jetsons'' did it better.

And, with the exception of a few quiet early moments before the full whirligig of narrative starts spinning, just about everything in ''Meet the Robinsons'' has been done better before, including at the Disney factory. This movie has
more in common with cobbled-together junk like ''Chicken Little'' and ''Treasure Planet'' than with the studio's classics. But it's all right. I guess everyone makes
mistakes -- though only movie studios expect the rest of us to pay for theirs.

Meet the Robinsons
Opens today nationwide.

Directed by Stephen Anderson; written by Jon Bernstein, Michelle Spitz, Don Hall, Nathan Greno, Aurian Redson, Joe Mateo and Mr. Anderson, based on the book ''A Day With Wilbur Robinson''
by William Joyce; edited by Ellen Keneshea; music by Danny Elfman; art director, Robh Ruppel; produced by Dorothy McKim; released by Walt Disney Pictures. Running time: 93 minutes. This film is rated G.